Historical Materialism

historical materialism is a theory that is part of Marxist socialism.

This theoretical current studies history through the relationship between material accumulation and productive forces.

For historical materialists, society developed through the production of goods that satisfy the basic and superfluous needs of human beings.

Origin of Historical Materialism

Historical materialism was created by the German philosophers Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895).

During the Industrial Revolution, urban centers grew in European countries. The inequality between social classes became notorious and this had a strong impact on the social, political and spiritual life of this period.

In this way, several currents of thought emerged that sought to explain the origin of social differences. One of these theories was historical materialism.

See also:Industrial Revolution:what was it (summary)

Characteristics of Historical Materialism

Historical materialism sought to understand the relationships between work and the production of goods throughout history.

This materialist conception of history realized that the means of production are decisive to characterize societies.

For Marx and Engels, the social changes that occur in society are the result of this material achievement, which in turn determines the economic situation of individuals.

According to historical materialism, the relations of production are fundamental to delineate the relations between the social classes that form society. For Marx, it is capitalism that produces the class struggle between the bourgeoisie (the dominant) and the proletariat (the dominated).

In his work “Capital ”, Karl Marx evaluates capitalist society and the various social realities that are embedded in it and makes a critical analysis of the capitalist system.

Society according to Marxism

To understand the concept it is necessary to remember how Marx and Engels characterized society.

The bourgeois class is formed by the holders of the means of production. The proletarian class, on the other hand, receives a salary for its labor power.

Therefore, the proletariat has to sell its labor to the bourgeoisie. These, according to historical Marxism, will always want to retain power and make more profit. Therefore, they will exploit employees as much as possible, either by paying low wages or offering terrible working conditions.

Dissatisfied, the proletariat revolts and fights against the bourgeois. Only after many conflicts, the ruling class accepts to introduce changes that can improve the life of the working class.

Therefore, according to the studies of Marx and Friedrich Engels, what moves the history of a society is the struggle between social classes.

See also:What is the Alienation of Labor for Marx?

Criticisms of Historical Materialism

Like all sociological and historical theory, historical materialism has been criticized by other thinkers. We will highlight only three of them.

The first one concerns the timeless validity to which this theory is intended. Can we understand the production relations of Ancient Egypt with the same criteria used to understand an industrial society?

The second disapproval states that social classes are not homogeneous and also fight each other. The economic policy of a government does not always benefit a landowner and a large industrialist. There are labor laws that apply only to urban workers and not to peasants.

Finally, historical materialism only takes into account economics and not religious, ideological and military motivations for the development of society, as sociologist Max Weber, for example, will do.

Dialectical Materialism

Dialectical materialism is another strand presented by Marx, where he uses dialectics to explain social changes.

From this bias, changes arise from the clash between social forces. They are a reflection of matter in its dialectical relationship with the psychological and social dimensions, which, in turn, constitute the productive forces and production relations.